NCEI added Alaska climate divisions to its nClimDiv dataset on Friday, March 6, 2015, coincident with the release of the February 2015 monthly monitoring report. For more information on this data, please visit the Alaska Climate Divisions FAQ.

Long-term moisture deficits (last 12 to 24 months) persisted across parts of the Great Lakes to central and northern Plains, Maine, and most of the West

Please Note: The data presented in this drought report are preliminary. Ranks, anomalies, and percent areas may change as more complete data are received and processed.

National Overview

On the national scale,

severe to extreme drought affected about 26 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of September 2003, about the same as last month

about 37 percent
of the contiguous U.S. fell in the moderate to extreme drought categories (based on the Palmer Drought Index) at the end of September

on a broad scale, the last two decades were characterized by unusual wetness with short periods of extensive droughts, whereas the 1930s and 1950s were characterized by prolonged periods of extensive droughts with little wetness (see graph below right)

about 16 percent of the contiguous U.S. fell in the severely to extremely wet categories at the end of September

a file containing the national monthly percent area severely dry and wet from 1900 to present is available

historical temperature, precipitation, and Palmer drought data from 1895 to present for climate divisions, states, and regions in the contiguous U.S. are available at the Climate Division: Temperature-Precipitation-Drought Data page in files having names that start with "drd964x" and ending with "txt" (without the quotes).

Citing This Report

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Drought for September 2003, published online October 2003, retrieved on December 9, 2016 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/drought/200309.